REGION: Second man found guilty in robbery series

SAN DIEGO ---- A man was convicted Thursday for his role in a
series of takeover bank robberies that netted a group of masked
bandits $293,000.

After several days of deliberations, a jury found Tranes Goins
guilty of two counts of robbery and that he was personally armed in
the bank holdups. Jurors acquitted Goins on three robbery
counts,

Goins, 29, is one of four men charged in connection with the
five robberies that took place between September 2008 and January
2009. He faces more than 19 years in prison when he is sentenced by
Judge Leo Valentine Jr. on July 14.

Thaddeus Williams was convicted earlier this year of being the
getaway driver in three of the holdups and was sentenced to 14
years and four months in state prison.

Terry Mixon, 25, and Jeremy Gibbs, 23, will be tried in late
August.

Deputy District Attorney Allen Brown said during Williams' trial
that a group of four -- and in one case five men -- committed
takeover-style holdups in which they entered the banks with guns
drawn, jumped the counter and ordered the manager to open the
vault.

Brown told the jury that on Sept. 30, 2008, three suspects
jumped out of a car and robbed a U.S. Bank branch in Del Mar of
$136,807.

The robbers wore masks, athletic gloves and at least two of them
had guns, the prosecutor said. Pepper spray was used on people who
were ordered to the ground even though they were compliant, Brown
said. The robbers jumped into a waiting car and got away.

On Dec. 1, 2008, Brown said, four suspects got out of a
different car and robbed a Pacific Western bank in Rancho Bernardo
of more than $25,500.

The robbers got away, but money stained with red dye from a bank
dye pack and a 32-caliber gun were found outside the bank.

On Dec. 13, 2008, a group of men rushed into a Wells Fargo bank
in El Cajon and got away with nearly $13,000.

No getaway car was seen, but an officer saw the men running from
the bank and identified Williams as one of them, according to
Brown.

On Dec. 22, 2008, four men wearing hooded sweatshirts rushed
into a U.S. Bank branch in San Marcos and got away with about
$103,000.

No getaway car was seen, but a police officer looking in the
area found an abandoned white Infiniti seen in the second bank
robbery in Rancho Bernardo, according to Brown, who said red dye
was found in the back seat of the car.

On Jan. 24, 2009, three robbers entered a Bank of America branch
in Del Cerro and got away with more than $13,000.

No getaway car was seen, but bank officials were able to put a
tracking device in with the stolen money, and police arrested the
four defendants 20 minutes later in two separate cars in El Cajon,
where Williams lived, Brown said.

One of the getaway cars belonged to Williams' girlfriend at the
time, the prosecutor said.

Inside one of the cars, police found a backpack with $13,266
inside, two guns, pepper spray and masks.